In Cannes, the series also have their festival
A pink carpet, before the red. One month, to the day, before making the glitter of cinema sparkle, Cannes will celebrate the art of series. His festival, Canneseriesthis year once again has its share of attractive French and international productions in store. For six days, from April 23 to 28, 2026, in the legendary setting of the Croisette and the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, there will be free screenings open to the public as well as audiovisual professionals and the press. Benoit Louvet, director of this event, promises despite “a fragile and tense global context” a ninth edition “more faithful than ever to its values and its mission: to offer everyone a series of photographs of the world in which we live. »
This year, nearly 300 series, from 17 countries, were submitted to the expert eyes of the team of Canneseries. A slightly decreasing figure according to Albin Lewi, artistic director of the event. Competition (long, short, documentary format), out-of-competition screenings and meetings: no less than forty series with varied themes and genres will be previewed before being broadcast on French television channels or on international streaming platforms.
Among the new releases of the year, for the first time on the Croisette, an Iranian production. Titled The Red and the Blackthese six 52-minute episodes directed by Ida Panahandeh immerse viewers in mid-19th century Iran through a saga where passion meets tragedy. Another country represented for the first time: Austria, with Sheep by Alex Reinberg and Leni Gruber. In 5×20 minutes, this series takes us into a world where sheep wrongly believe they have domesticated humans and attempt a rebellion.
The festival also offers a dubbing workshop, activities around the animated series for children Totally Spiesand of course meetings with actresses and actors, some of which were public, such as the conversation with the American Adam Scott (Severance, Big little lies…) also awarded a Canal+ Icon Award.
A tempting selection
Within each category, many trailers (partly available on the cannesseries Youtube account) whet our curiosity. This is particularly the case of the one which will close this edition: California Avenue by Hugo Blick, with Bill Nighy and Helena Bonham Carter, whose plot takes place in the heart of an isolated caravan park in England in 1975. Or also from This is not a crime (Canal+) which features the surrealists, in the 1930s, trying to unmask, among them, a serial killer.
We are still waiting INAby Rachel Maxine Anderson, which follows in 6×7 minutes the setbacks of a television producer forced to quickly replace a guest star who doesn’t arrive through… her mother; the adaptation of Stendhal’s legendary novel, Red and blackfor France Télévisions (soon to be broadcast); Harvestwhich explores the tensions of a Danish peasant family.
We are still waiting INAby Rachel Maxine Anderson, which follows in 6×7 minutes the setbacks of a television producer forced to quickly replace a guest star who does not arrive through… her mother; the adaptation of Stendhal’s legendary novel, Red and blackfor France Télévisions (soon to be broadcast); Harvestwhich explores the tensions of a Danish peasant family.
But also, because they are also in the spotlight, documentary series like Colonna, a Corsican tragedy by Ariane Chemin and Agnès Pizzini, Or The oligarch and the art dealerexploring the betrayal of an art dealer towards his client, a Russian oligarch, “a real shock” for artistic director Albin Lewi.
The festival is finally an opportunity to rediscover the news of productions already identified: the third (and final) season of Paris Police 1910 (Canal+), season 2 of Anonymous Brigade (M6) with Claire Keim and Eric Cantona, or the return of Zodiac (TF1) with Francis Huster.
Like every year, the ticket office opened two days before for Cannes residents, and a distribution of tickets was organized on April 4, in the Marianne lounge at the Town Hall. For non-Cannes audiences, access to free online tickets opens at 11 a.m. this Tuesday April 7. Tickets for the signings and dubbing workshops will be put online on Thursday April 9 at 11 a.m. While waiting to walk the pink carpet, you can (re)discover the productions selected and/or awarded in previous editions, such as Reykjavik Fusion on Arte from Thursday April 24 at 8:55 p.m. and on arte.tv from April 16.
